Argent Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Argent Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,825 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 453 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $22,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth $253,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 83,485 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $44,313,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,784 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $947,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, South Dakota Investment Council boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 2,084 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on TMO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $615.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $648.00 to $658.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $664.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $615.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $618.94.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO traded up $2.26 on Friday, hitting $606.12. 777,265 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,530,541. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $415.60 and a fifty-two week high of $622.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $574.15 and its 200 day moving average is $573.72.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $5.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.13 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $10.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.50 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 18.22% and a net margin of 14.69%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.72 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 10.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.28, for a total value of $5,672,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at $70,238,340.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $567.28, for a total value of $5,672,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at $70,238,340.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 6,300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.09, for a total value of $3,793,167.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 123,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,548,375.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,084 shares of company stock worth $19,767,092. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc provides life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services in the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company's Life Sciences Solutions segment offers reagents, instruments, and consumables for biological and medical research, discovery, and production of drugs and vaccines, as well as diagnosis of infections and diseases; and solutions include biosciences, genetic sciences, and bio production to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, clinical, healthcare, academic, and government markets.